From the Nicholson Seats, December 30, 2025

From the Nicholson Seats, December 30, 2025

Five Defeat Jackals in Semi-Final Rematch

By Hoops T

The Sudbury Five began their defence of the BSL Championship Monday night at the Elgin Street barn against the Lake Erie Jackals, in a rematch of the 2024-2025 BSL semi-finals.

A good crowd of 2,129 attended the contest, despite inclement weather.

Before the game, the Five had their banner raising ceremony, lifting the 2024-2025 squad to the rafters at the old barn. This was hyped by the Five production team as an NBA-style production. The result was very underwhelming. Hoops T has attached the entire 12-minute video of the Oklahoma City Thunder banner raising ceremony from October of this year, and rather than make specific comments, Hoops T will let readers draw their own conclusions.



The Five also took the opportunity to debut their new home uniforms. The black and white colour scheme is a big change from the previous uniforms.

The starting lineup for the Jackals was D'Andre Johnson, Joshua Dominguez, Lorenzo Collier, Justin Tucker and Evan Hinson.

The starting lineup for the Five was Alex Kotov, Duane Notice, Allen Billinger, Keyshawn Bryant and Charlie Marquardt.

The economy minded Jackals saved some money by travelling to Sudbury the same day of the game. Unfortunately, they started the game with a severe case of bus legs. Sudbury jumped out all over them, and they scored the first 14 points of the contest in 3:38 of playing time.

To their credit, the Jackals righted the ship, and they cut the deficit to 37-30 after 12 minutes of play.

Both teams came out hot, shooting over 50% for the quarter.

The leading scorer for the Jackals was reserve Franklin Hinton with nine points. The leading scorer for Sudbury was Bryant with 12 points, on 5-7 shooting.

In the second quarter, the Jackals continued to hang with the Five, despite shooting just 32% from the field. The Five cooled off slightly, shooting 44% from the field.

Reserve Matthew Csuhran was the leading scorer for the Jackals with nine points. Kotov and Bryant led the Five with seven points apiece.

Sudbury had a 66-57 advantage at halftime.

The third quarter was well contested, and the Jackals could only make a one-point inroad into the Five lead.

Each team shot 46% from the field in the corridor, and each team had four threes.

Johnson was the leading scorer for the Jackals in the quarter with 10 points. Notice and Bryant led the Five in scoring with nine points apiece.

Sudbury had a 96-88 lead after 36 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter mirrored the play of the entire contest. Sudbury would extend their lead, and the Jackals would reel the Five back in.

Things got a bit tense when a layup by Trenton Temple cut the Sudbury lead to 111-105 with 5:42 remaining.

A Billinger layup and a dunk by Bryant extended the lead to 10 points with 4:35 to play.

Sam Bailey responded with two layouts for the Jackals to cut the lead to 115:109 with 3:42 remaining.

A Billinger free-throw, layup by Kotov, a jumper by Notice and two free throws by Notice gave the Five a 122-109 lead with 1:55 remaining.

The Sudbury Five went on to defeat the Lake Erie Jackals 126-114.

The Jackals went cold in the fourth quarter, shooting only 35% from the field. The Five shot 45% from the field.

Sudbury made their free throws down the stretch, converting 12 of 15 attempts. The visitors struggled from the line, shooting only 55% on 11 attempts.

Reserve Temple was the leading Jackals scorer with 10 points in the quarter. Billinger led Sudbury scoring with nine points.

The Jackals shot 40% in the contest, on 94 attempts, including 37% from three on 41 attempts. They went 23-35 from the line.

Trenton Temple was the leading scorer for the Jackals with 23 points. He was one of five Jackals players that scored in double figures.

Sudbury shot 47% from the field on 92 attempts, including 36% from deep, on 28 attempts. They went 30-44 from the line.

Keyshawn Bryant had a deep you to remember, leading the Fight in scoring with 32 points, on 12-21 shooting. Five other Sudbury players scored in double figures.

Credits and critiques

After waiting what seemed an eternity to start the season, Hoops T was happy to see basketball return to Sudbury on Monday night.

The Five and the Jackals did not have any pre-season action, and at times, the basketball was ragged on Monday night.

There were also several bright spots for Sudbury.

Keyshawn Bryant had a great night. He thrived in and out-and-down game with very little half-court play. It will be interesting to see if Bryant can maintain his scoring prowess when the game is not quite so wide open.

Newcomer Alex Kotov had a good game, scoring 21 points in 27 minutes. He played well inside, and he led Sudbury and rebounding with 10 rebounds. He appears to have both size and athleticism, and it appears that he will be a key piece for Sudbury moving forward.

Duane Notice and Charlie Marquardt logged 46 minutes and 45 minutes, respectively on Monday, as new coach Joey Puddister leaned on both of them heavily. Notice finished with 25 points and Marquardt finished with 22 points.

The Five have several things to clean up and ponder before their next game.

The Sudbury bench played a collective 59 minutes in this game. This is the Tom Thibodeau school of coaching. Run your starters into the ground, and hope they have enough juice left in the tank late in games. Coach Puddister will need to use his bench much more. An eight-man rotation is not sustainable for an entire season.

If Puddister insists on these tactics, he will have to call some timeouts to keep his starters fresh. Puddister called no timeouts on Monday night.

Sudbury was badly outrebounded 51-39, including 13-5 on the offensive glass. Sudbury played a small lineup on Monday, and you have to wonder if one of their smaller players will be sent to the bench to give them more rebounding. Keyshawn Bryant does not appear to be much of a rebounder.

Jaquan Lightfoot came off the bench for Sudbury Monday. He scored 10 points in 25 minutes, but he was charged with five personal fouls. Lightfoot is the reigning BSL Defender of the Year, and he would be in the starting lineup for Hoops T. Marquardt would be sent to the bench, but he would be an invaluable sixth man for Sudbury.

The Five shot just 68% from the free-throw line, and they need more practice, to improve their proficiency. Fortunately for them, they made their free throws when they counted late in the game.

The Five return to action Saturday night at the Elgin Street barn. They play host to the Montréal Toundra.